To get email notification when someone adds to a thread you're following, click on the star in the thread's header and it will turn yellow; click again to turn it off. To edit your profile, click on the gear.

The Wall has a powerful search engine that will go all the way back to 2002. Use "quotation marks" around multiple-word searches. RIGHT-CLICK on the results and choose Open Link In New Window so you'll be able to get back to your results. Happy searching!

In fairness to all, we don't discuss pricing on the Wall. Thanks for your cooperation.

Searching for Oil Boiler

I am in the market for an oil boiler. Currently, I will eventually be heating nearly 3000 square feet and getting domestic hot water. I am going to check my work, but have completed a heat loss calculation and came up with about 100,000 BTU per hour. I have looked at a few systems and need to make a decision fairly soon. I have considered the System 2000 EK1, a Buderus 115 and have also looked at the Burnham MPO-IQ 147. I have also thought about direct venting so I can gain access to the chimney flue. However, one local "oil guy" told me that he will not install a direct vent for an oil boiler because I would likely be unhappy. I want reliability and efficiency...just like everyone else.

Yes, I do mainly wood...however, our furnace is getting old and we are finishing our basement so "if" we are going to go to a boiler, we need/should do it now. Electricity is expensive in our neck of the woods, which is one of the reasons to go to the boiler for domestic hot water.

hi, i am in maine...am a retired master heat tech...it gets cold here...i think the system 2000 would work nicely for your heat, & domestic h.w. needs.../ have installed & serviced many of them...nice units.../ as i said...i'm retired, not looking for work...

I am in NH and it gets cold here too...I have been in a house with System 2000 before and I liked the system. It is expensive though and this switching out from my hot air furnace to a boiler is an added expense to the remodel project. Any experience with the Burnham MPO-IQ? From looking around the internet, it looks like it is less than the System 2000, but still a good system and pretty efficient.

and the choice for my home would be the EK . Quieter than the others and it has built in advanced functions and can control 4 zones and hot water right out of the box . We installed this EK1 in a 5000 sq ft home , all cast iron rads , and it's been working great for 5 years or so now .

My oil company has strongly advised against direct vent...even saying that "he would not" install an oil boiler with direct vent. It sounds like he has experienced too many issues with the set up. We have a chimney, but would like to get the flue back for something else down the road...

Have you installed the EK1 direct vent? If so, how is it? Soot on the outside of the house? Misfires etc.? Thanks.

The Buderus can be direct vented. The System 2000 uses a power venter last I knew. If your oil company doesn't want to do a direct vent get a new contractor. The Buderus North American headquarters is in New Hampshire I have done some training there so you should be able to find someone. If your in southern New Hampshire I could send you a couple names of guys I know.

Electricity is about .124 per kwh...oil is around 3.30 (I think). But it get much colder than freezing here in NH for much of the winter. I do not know much about heat pumps, but wouldn't I still need another heat source in the house?

I am not familiar with those types of systems at all, but they do sound very interesting. I am looking for advice on a boiler...and am open to suggestions. I know a bit about the system 2000 and have read about some other systems. One that sounds interesting is the Burnham MPO-IQ, but I cannot find much about it. It is starting to cool off here in New Hampshire, so I need to come to a decision fairly soon. Thanks for all the help...I have learned a lot about heating systems since I started my search, and I don't want to sink several thousand dollars into something that I won't be satisfied with in a decade or two.

We have a woodstove which is our main heat source. We do not have heat in our basement which is being finished for living space. Our current system is "older" and we are planning to change out the system before finishing the basement and don't have access to install PEX and baseboards. We like the alternative heat sources, particularly the woodstove. It is nice to have in case of a long power outage (ice storm). We will be putting in a new boiler and keeping the woodstove. At some point down the road, we could put a small woodstove in the basement...just in case.

I just had a guy at the house and one of the boilers he recommended was a Rinnai Combo. I took a look at their website and it looks like it could be set with an indirect hot water heater...this sounds like a reasonable option since I have "heard" that the Rinnai on demand hot water heaters can sometimes slow down to a "dribble" because they cannot keep up with the demand for water.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Reliability? Life-expectancy?